The Plowman

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 25:15-38. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, June 29, 2008.

Are there many paths to God? What does John 14:6 mean? What do most Americans believe today anyway? By and large Americans in today’s post-modern world you can believe pretty much what you want. Just don’t have a narrow view that your way is the only way.

1 God is coming in judgment of the wicked.
2 The cup of God’s wrath was not reserved for Jeremiah’s time alone. A cup of wrath is reserved for anyone who refuses God’s gracious offer of life in the person of Jesus Christ. We have not preached the gospel until we declare this.
3 God is not being unreasonable. This message comes after centuries of rebellion from his people.
4 The wonder of the gospel is found in the fact that Christ consumed the cup of the wrath of God for you and for me who believe.

The question is will you consume the cup of God’s wrath for your self or will Jesus consume  it for you? The only hope for our world is not in education, treaty, or the right presidential candidate. The only hope for our world is if the church faithfully, consistently preaches the gospel of grace of Jesus Christ.

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 24:1-25:14. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, June 8, 2008.

We need to understand that God’s sovereign judgment and gracious blessing are in direct relation to how we respond to the truth he has made known.

1. We must understand to ignore or disregard God’s gracious warning is to insure his righteous judgment.
2. We must understand to heed God’s warning brings great blessing.

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 23:9-40. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, June 1, 2008.

Introduction:
False teaching has been an issue with the people of God from the very beginning. It began in the garden: “Did God say?” Resources available to us today is almost beyond belief; much of it good, much of it not just bad, but deadly. In terms of a mixed bag, nothing much has changed since the times of Jeremiah. What are we to do with conflicting voices? Be careful who you listen to and what you read.

A. Three things about false teachers you should know:

1. False teachers come proclaiming their own vain imagining, their flawed dreams, and their false theology, all in the guise of a word from God.
2. False teachers consistently deny God’s revealed truth.
3. The ministry of the false teachers produces bitter fruit.

How should we respond to the wickedness of false teaching?

1. Our first response should be broken hearts and genuine mourning.
2. We should respond by carefully guarding our own speech and bridling our own tongue.
3. We must make certain to consistently look to Christ 32

Conclusion:
We should not come to the house of God to hear the opinions of men. We come to hear a word from God

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 23:1-8. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, May 18, 2008.

God’s judgment is not separated from his concern for his people. In times of severe trial the weary find hope in God’s zealous, passionate concern for his own.

1. Our sovereign God zealously guards the well-being of his people (vs. 1-2).
2. Our loving God promises to care for his scattered, wounded sheep (vs. 3-4).
3. Our gracious God promises a just and righteous king to shepherd his people in peace and safety (vs. 5-8).

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 21-22. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, May 11, 2008.

It is a dangerous, dangerous assumption, to presume upon the grace of God.

1. Understand from chapter 21, verses 1-10 that a life of stubborn independence and indifference toward God has no claim on God’s grace.
2. A life lived in pursuit of possessions and power to the neglect of spiritual insight insure a devastating end. We see this in the life of the kings in chapter 22, verses 11-30.

God announces his devastating judgment in chapter 22, verse 30.

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 20:1-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, April 27, 2008.

We have before us here a troubling, disturbing passage. It opens with Jeremiah strong and confident, and ends with Jeremiah bemoaning the day he was born. Is Jeremiah unbalanced, in need of psychiatric help? No, he is just being honest. He is acting exactly as we do as Christians today: ready to charge hell with a water pistol one day, and afraid of our own shadows the next.

From this passage note that genuine faith often waivers between  emboldened confidence and debilitating discouragement.

1. Note in verses 1-6 that Jeremiah is strong and determined in the face of hardship, and then,
2. in verses 7-18 Jeremiah is frightened, confused, angry, discouraged, and yet faithful.

Why do any of us come into this world? We exist to spend our days, to give our lives to the glory of God.

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 19:1-15. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, April 20, 2008.

When you think of God, what attributes immediately jump out at you? As you seek to make him known, how do you describe him? Where does the subject of God’s wrath fit into such a description? If we are going to be faithful to Scripture, we must share the sobering truth about the judgment and wrath of God. Let’s go to the garbage dump and listen to the message from Jeremiah found in chapter 19.
1. God’s wrath is just and right, because:
a. The people of God have forsaken him.
b. They are worshiping false gods.
c. In the process of worshiping false gods they have murdered their own children.
d. These three charges leveled at Judah can apply equally to America today.
2. God’s wrath is glorious. To put it another way, God’s wrath brings him glory because it displays his justice, righteousness and holiness.
3. God’s wrath is fearsome.

There is a way to flee from the wrath of God. That way is found in the person of the Lord Jesus, who died upon the cross for the sins of many, for anyone who will flee to him.

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 18:1-23. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, April 13, 2008.

The promises of God cut both ways. Many people hold the opinion that God’s purpose is always to make us feel comfortable. That just isn’t so. If we are redeemed by Christ, then God does indeed have our good at heart in everything he does. It just may not be pleasant at the present. This evening we look at the sovereignty of God as found in the passage before us. The sovereignty of God is a very comforting truth, and at times it is a very troubling truth. Let’s look at four lessons from this passage:

1. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God means God does as he pleases. This is a basic tenant of theism.
2. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God brings peace and creates fear.
3. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God sparks rebellion in the hearts of sinful men.
4. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God prompts inspired praying.

Where do you stand before God? Our only hope is to be found in Christ who gives us a right standing with God.

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 17:19-27. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, March 30, 2008.

The question of how we handle the commands of God is worth very serious thought.  In Jeremiah’s day, the people of God had turned the Sabbath day into market day, revealing their stubborn, hard hart against God. When they were walking in obedience to God they were unique in all the world concerning resting one day in seven, and they were a blessed people.

Today’s people of God are called to live by a different set of standards too. If we do follow in God’s ways we will prosper in our souls. So how do we observe a “Sabbath rest” today? Paul gives us a clue in Colossians 2:16, 17.

First, lets lay down some presuppositions:

1. You must come to this text believing that God exists.
2. That God has spoken. He has revealed himself in Scripture
3. God has a people; one, not two.

We would do well in our own personal lives to consider the following principles to honor the Lord’s day:

1. We should honor the Lord’s day as a day of worship. The Puritans use to call it “the market day of the soul.” This can take on many forms, inside and outside the church walls.
2. We should honor the Lord’s day as a day for showing mercy.
3. We should honor the Lord’s day as a day of rest. That is the way he has made us.

Each Christian will have to figure out on his own how best to honor the Lord on his day. One over-arching principle applies for Christians today: We should enjoy it as a loving gift from him, not as a duty.

 

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An exposition of Jeremiah 17:4-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, March 16, 2008.

Jeremiah 17 is one of those passages that seems to cut across the grain, that seems to move in a different direction than we would normally think. Popular religion sees Christianity as a self-help program. The popular mantra is “God helps those who help themselves.” This passage shows God as the one who helps those who have absolutely no hope.

The main thrust of the gospel is that Christ came on a mission to rescue hopeless rebels, not hapless victims.

1. In verses 5-8 and 11-13 we see that a life of self reliance paves the path of terror and destruction, wile a life of dependence and trust [in God] leads to blessing and stability and peace.
2. In verses 9-18. “The heart [of man] is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;” therefore our only hope is the mercy and grace of our God. See Acts 16:14 for a great example of the nature and working of salvation.

Where do you stand tonight? What is your hope? What are you trusting in? Are you trusting in man and his insights, or are you trusting in God, and God alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ?